Elspeth's Daily Check In

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:52 pm

Friday, 4/30/10

Urban Ranger and No S: Success

I'm working at home today. I took my walk first thing in the morning so as not to have an excuse of being caught up in work. I felt good about that, so I posted it right away.

This week I've added a daily tablespoon of flax oil blended with a quarter cup of organic low fat cottage cheese to my menu. I've been trying to add flax in some form to my diet for a while, and the oil is more convenient than grinding seeds for each use (although I do add them to oatmeal once in a while). The reason for mixing the flax oil with cottage cheese is because the sulphurated protein of the cottage cheese enables the body to more fully assimilate the beneficial essential fatty acids of the flax. I rather like the taste of the cottage cheese mixed with flax oil and have made it part of my breakfast for the past week, but I decided to jazz it up today by mashing a hard boiled egg into the mixture. I added a little garlic powder, Dijon mustard, and fresh ground black pepper, and voila: a very healthy egg salad, which I ate on two thin toasted slices of homemade bread left over from last night's dinner. Quite tasty, and something I definitely want to repeat. It kept me feeling very satisfied all day.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Sun May 02, 2010 2:11 pm

Saturday, 5/1/10

No S: S day

An S day today. I spent the day driving my mother-in-law around so my meal schedule was messed up. She can no longer drive, and unfortunately she lives about 30 miles away and my husband is her only child. It falls on us to take her shopping, to doctors, to church, to the hairdresser's, etc. I had a late breakfast (between 9:30 and 10 a.m.) At about 11:30 I left to go shopping for my mother-in-law since she only needed a few things. I put away her groceries, then we drove another 30 miles back toward my neighborhood to see a play. It's a community theater production of Annie for which my husband and older so are doing lights. Then back to her house and then over to a friend's to pick up my other sons who had spent the afternoon there. By the time I got home it was 8:30 p.m. Between breakfast and my very late dinner I'd had a small handful of almonds mixed with pumpkin seeds and two small Dove chocolates for a snack. Dinner was a small plate of leftovers with a scoop of ice cream for dessert. I don't feel like I was an idiot today, but I do regret eating dinner so late. I've really come to dislike going to bed on a full stomach.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Mon May 03, 2010 4:31 am

Sorry you had to eat late, but it doesn't sound like you ate much.

Good luck with this week. I'm feeling confident about N days.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Mon May 03, 2010 12:38 pm

Thanks oolalala. Wishing you luck too! I posted something in your thread.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Mon May 03, 2010 12:44 pm

Sunday, 5/2/10

No S: S day

Rather a lazy day. I had a late breakfast so I didn't really want lunch but did allow myself a snack of almonds, pumpkin seeds, and pretzels. This was the first weekend in a long time in which I didn't bake a special treat. Yesterday I had ice cream, and today I satisfied my sweet craving with a few pieces of Lindt chocolate after dinner. My only regret is that I snacked on some more nuts and a little chocolate before bedtime and that I probably had one too many glasses of wine with dinner (although I'm not doing Glass Ceiling). But overall a better weekend than most.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Tue May 04, 2010 1:31 pm

Monday, 5/3/10

No S and Urban Ranger: S (as in sick) day

Sunday night I had trouble sleeping. I felt vaguely sick to my stomach and wondered if it was because of the extra wine I'd had in the evening. I usually don't have any problem with alcohol even on those rare occasions when I overindulge (never had a hangover, for instance), so I didn't think it was that. It turned out to be some kind of virus. I had to make multiple trips to the bathroom through the night and was running a slight fever of 100.6 by morning. Unfortunately I had to go into the office because of a meeting, though I would have liked to have spent the day in bed since I was exhausted from being up half the night.

My only sick day indulgence was foregoing my walk. I actually had no appetite for most of the day so it was rather like an ESE day except that I allowed myself a little honey in my tea. By evening I was feeling better and ate a very light dinner.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Tue May 04, 2010 7:19 pm

I find with No S I am less likely to eat to try to make myself feel better when I feel sick, even though Reinhard says we should allow ourselves S days for sick days. Another way N days makes us smarter!

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Wed May 05, 2010 1:46 pm

Tuesday, 5/4/10

No S and Urban Ranger: Success

A gorgeous day for a walk through town. I was out of the office for about an hour at lunch time, though only a little over a half hour of it was brisk walking on the streets. The rest of the time I spent browsing at a few stores and at the public library. I am lucky to work in a town with so many great places to walk. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, too. At lunch time it was in the high 70s, sunny, with a lovely cool breeze blowing. Perfect for walking.

I got back to my office at about 1:30 and then just did not feel like eating at all. Whether it was the exercise or the satisfying breakfast I had in the morning (the flax oil/cottage cheese egg salad I mentioned a few days ago), I just didn't feel like eating anything. Finally at about 3:30 I decided to have a late lunch. I only ate about half of what I brought for lunch. Dinner has been later than usual this week due to my sons' play practice schedule, so we ate about 7:30, and I wasn't hungry then either. In the evening I felt tempted by some of the Lindt chocolate I bought today on my shopping expedition, but I reminded myself that it was an S day treat and that eating after dinner is not what I do. Reinhard is right: habits are easier than decisions. In the bad old days, I would have obsessed about eating the chocolate: "Should I or shouldn't I?" "I can `pay' for it by eating less tomorrow." "I've been good all day, I deserve a reward," etc. Now I just consider myself someone who doesn't eat sweets on weekdays and who doesn't eat at all after dinner and that's that. I did enjoy a cup of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice herbal tea while watching Lost. It tastes naturally sweet without anything added. Quite refreshing!

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Thu May 06, 2010 1:13 pm

Wednesday, 5/5/10

No S and Urban Ranger: Success

Another lovely day for a walk. I generally work at home on Wednesdays and Fridays so the route isn't as nice as during my work days, but I did get out for a bit.

I've become a big fan of cottage cheese these days. I never particularly liked it because I always thought of it as bland "diet food." Recently, however, I discovered Nancy's low fat organic cottage cheese in my local healthy food store. It's produced with live cultures and has no added carrageen or other gums. It's got a really interesting tangy taste that people either love or hate. I love it and have been mixing a little with flax oil as part of my morning breakfast. Lately I've been craving tuna fish, which I rarely eat, so I bought a can and decided to mix it with some cottage cheese and spices. My husband said it sounded disgusting when I told him about it,

but I thought it was delicious. That and a salad made an excellent lunch. As it was Cinco de Mayo, I made tacos for us for dinner. I even allowed myself to have some tortilla chips with salsa, making room on my plate for them. A good day all around.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu May 06, 2010 10:36 pm

I love cottage cheese with fruit and either walnuts or pecans. Also, cottage cheese with refried beans and some Indian spices thrown in. Cottage cheese with oatmeal and a couple of tablespoons each of nutritional yeast powder and Parmesan cheese. And I have used it with tuna ( and mustard) because I don't like the taste of mayonnaise very much.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Fri May 07, 2010 1:40 pm

Great ideas! I'm particularly intrigued by the idea of mixing it with refried beans and spices. I never would have thought of that...and it just so happens I have a can of Trader Joe's refried beans in the cupboard. I'm trying to get more protein in my diet, and cottage cheese is loaded with it. Thanks for the suggestions!

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:33 pm

Thursday, 5/6/10

ESE and No S: Success
Urban Ranger: Failure

Ack! I hate to see a red on my new HabitCal month. It was another work issue, trying to make a deadline for a big project. Still, I should have had a walk after dinner.

ESE fast day today. I drank water and unsweetened white and herbal tea. I have a Celestial Seasonings sampler box and am trying different varieties. I really like the blueberry one. It smells like one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures: blueberry Poptarts. I haven't had one of those since I exorcised HFCS from my diet.

It helps to be busy when I am fasting. I did not miss lunch at all; however, by dinner I was very hungry. My kids are all involved in a school play, which opened tonight, so my husband and I had the rare chance to go out on our own. At my request, we went for Trenton tomato pie. Tomato pie is the original pizza: a very thin, almost cracker-like crust, with the mozzarella sprinkled on first and then lots of chunky tomatoes on top of that, a reverse of the ubiquitous New York-style pizza and much less greasy and cheese-laden to boot. There are tomato pie restaurants in Trenton that have been in business for nearly 100 years. Of course, our kids prefer regular old pizza, so we rarely go. It was a treat.

After dinner I was tempted to have something sweet at home, but I told myself I'm someone who just doesn't eat after dinner and I was able to ignore the craving. The less you give in to the temptations, the easier it becomes to vanquish them. That's not to say I never succumb. But I am tempted less frequently and when I am, I have an easier time overcoming temptation.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Fri May 07, 2010 5:05 pm

I've been falling down! Not to make your thread about me, but I have to get back to saying I'm someone who doesn't eat after dinner. I lost my car keys yesterday and had to pay 44 bucks to get home from work. It was on top of a lot of stuff over a period of time. I ended up eating a bag of (no sugar) cereal and picking at other stuff after dinner. It was the second night in a row. Unfortunately, it's also a social issue, as I eat so many meals alone, and it's getting to me a bit. I'm afraid for what it will be like this summer with time off from work. Oh, well.

Keeping up with your thread is helping me!

LoriLifts · Post by **LoriLifts** » Sat May 08, 2010 8:14 pm

Hi Elspeth,

Thanks for the supportive words on my blog about the Nashville marathon. Finishing on a treadmill was crazy, good thing I have a stubborn streak! I feel so bad for Nashville, the week after the race was the big flood.

I caught up on your blog, you're doing great! It's nice to have a fasting buddy. Have you ever tried Fast-5? I'm transitioning to it, it should take most of May to get down to a 5 hour eating window. I'm going to try it out for a month or so. I doubt if I'll like it better than Eat Stop Eat.

Anyway, keep up the good work, I'll stop back soon.
Lori

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sun May 09, 2010 4:11 pm

What is it like for you doing a 24-hour fast? I find that I'm often not very hungry in the early morning and think I can do it. Then I start getting very hungry, maybe about 11, and think why should I not eat when I'm hungry? Do you find you can divert yourself when you're hungry? I somehow can do that sometimes between lunch and dinner, but it's hard earlier in the day, especially if I can't have some coffee with milk, which is how I usually tide myself over.

I was considering doing a fast until dinner today because I basically binged yesterday, but it's 9 a.m. now and I can tell I'm going to get pretty darn hungry later. What do you think?

I see you haven't been around so please don't feel bad if you couldn't get back to me soon.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Mon May 10, 2010 12:53 pm

Good luck with Fast 5, Lori! I wrote a longer reply on your thread. I'll be interested to hear how you think it compares to ESE.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Mon May 10, 2010 1:33 pm

Hi Oolala! I wrote a longish response about ESE on your thread.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Mon May 10, 2010 1:51 pm

Friday, 5/7/10

No S and Urban Ranger: Success

I am finding that I am eating less at my meals than I used to when I started No S, which is encouraging. Knowing that I couldn't eat between meals, I used to pile stuff on my plates, really pushing the limit of the one-plate rule. Nowadays I generally take about two thirds the amount I used to. I like the idea of using a smaller plate, but we only have one size (except for the tinyish dessert dishes). Maybe I should get a smaller size just for me.

A qualified success at walking. I'm still having some tendonitis issues so I didn't walk far, but at least I got out.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Mon May 10, 2010 1:59 pm

Saturday, 5/8/10, and Sunday, 5/9/10

S days

Not a complete idiot on either day

so an improvement over past weekends. I'd been considering whether to add more restrictions to my S days, but I've decided that the loss of a "safety valve" at this point would be more destructive in the long run than the occasional idiotic weekend. What I'm hoping will happen is that I will get to the state that many of the long term No-Sers around here have reached: the ability to maintain good N day habits on the weekends, while still enjoying the occasional treats. I think I am slooooowly progressing toward that goal.

LoriLifts · Post by **LoriLifts** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:41 am

Hi Elspeth,

I'll keep you updated on my Fast-5 experience. So far, I like it, my eating window is 1:30 to 6:30. I'm doing it 7 days a week.

Lori

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Tue May 11, 2010 1:20 pm

Monday, 5/10/10

No S: Success
Urban Ranger: Failure

A successful No S day with no real problems. I continue not to ingest any calories between meals, as per the "Leptin Diet" rules. I'm trying out different flavors of herbal tea, which I drink unsweetened. So far I really like Celestial Seasonings blueberry, peach, and Bengal Spice flavors.

Busy work day, but that still doesn't excuse not walking. I manage to find time to surf the net (not to mention regularly checking this forum), so I could have found a half hour for a walk during the day. I had dinner last night with a friend who is very overweight but who has started working out at the gym regularly and is now walking up to four miles a day. She was an inspiration! If she can do it, so can I! No more excuses, and no more red days on my Urban Ranger HabitCal!

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Tue May 11, 2010 3:58 pm

Do you allow yourself an indoor replacement for walking, in case it gets too late in the day? I have a walking video tape and a mini-stairstepper. I know the idea is to take advantage of normal human activity, but we don't necessarily live in human cities.

I've got a habitcal that was supposed to be for resistance exercise but I'm not doing that regularly, either, yet. I've started giving myself a green for any 14 minutes or more of vigorous activity. I figure the habit is more important than what I do for now.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Wed May 12, 2010 12:07 pm

No, and you're right: I should have an indoor option. How do you do the walking indoors thing? Is it like walking in place? My problem with exercising at home is that our house is pretty small with one TV in the living room, which is where everyone congregates. So I probably wouldn't be comfortable exercising there! However, I probably could think of something I could do. Thanks for the suggestion.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Wed May 12, 2010 12:56 pm

Tuesday, 5/11/10

ESE, No S, and Urban Ranger: Success

Triple play! I had a completely successful day, for once. I've decided no more excuses for not doing UR. I will walk at least five times a week, rain or shine, even if my work day is crazy. No matter what, I will find the time. So at lunch time I walked to the public library and back. It's only a mile round trip, but I felt virtuous doing it after a long stretch of not walking at all. Plus there was the added benefit of finding a few books on the shelf that were on my to-be-read list.

No problems with fasting until dinner. I think I've mentioned before that one of the things I love about fasting is the mildly euphoric feeling I get at around 20 hours into the fast. I just feel very relaxed and mellow, not hungry at all. Of course, a few hours after that, I start feeling hungry again as I'm anticipating dinner. I also like not having to think about food at all in the earlier parts of the day. I'm losing weight more slowly with the ESE/No S combination than I was doing alternate day fasting, but it's a far more sustainable way of eating.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed May 12, 2010 1:16 pm

Yes! Do you have an hour for lunch? I guess if you're not eating lunch, you have time to walk no matter what. I get 35 minutes, and haven't worked up to a 24-hour fast. Some mornings, I'm not hungry for breakfast, but I've always felt starved by lunch. Hmm. If I get the co-worker I eat with to try it...

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Wed May 12, 2010 2:37 pm

I'm fortunate because my schedule is very flexible so I can take lunch whenever and for however long I want. If I walk at lunch and it is a No S as opposed to ESE day, then I just eat my lunch when I get back at my desk while I work. At this point, I'm not walking more than a half hour anyway, but I hope to build up to an hour of walking eventually. Believe me, I realize I am lucky to have that kind of job flexibility!

I'm fortunate to have a job I love; but my misfortune is that, due to cutbacks, I have not been able to go full time. I work as many hours as they let me, 29 1/2 hours a week, but my husband is pushing for me to get a full time position somewhere. My boss has been strongly advocating for me to become full time, but the powers that be haven't budged yet. I'm praying that it will happen. I'd hate to have to leave since I'm very happy here.

Elspeth · Post by **Elspeth** » Thu May 13, 2010 2:06 pm

Wednesday, May 12/10

No S and Urban Ranger: Success

I'm taking to heart my new Urban Ranger motto: No excuses. I was working at home yesterday, again under deadline, so I didn't do a lunchtime walk; however, after dinner I made myself go out for a walk around the neighborhood. I didn't want to at first, but I kept repeating "No excuses," and did it.

I took Oolala's suggestion for cottage cheese mixed with refried beans. I had a can of Trader Joe's refried black beans with jalapenos, and mixed a half cup of that with a half cup of cottage cheese. I added two tablespoons of hummus with roasted red peppers. It was truly the most vile looking thing I ever ate...but it was delicious! High protein, low fat, and a good amount of fiber too. Definitely a keeper.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu May 13, 2010 3:33 pm

That sounds scrumptious!